Apparatus for manufacturing closed vessels of pulp.



Patented Sept. 9, I902, F. B. HOWARD. APPARATUS FOR MANUFACTURING CLOSED VESSELS 0F PU'LP.

(Application filed Jam. 16, 1902.)

(No Model.)

TNE NORRIS wc'rzns 00., mom-urns WASHINGTON, D. c.

UNITED. STATEs PATENT OEEIQE.

FRANK B. HOWARD, OF NEW YORK, N. Y., ASSIGNOR TO LAFLIN & RAND POWDER COMPANY, OE NEW YORK, N. Y., A CORPORATION OF NEW YORK.

APPARATUS FOR MANUFACTURING CLOSED VESSEL S OF PULP.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 708,642, dated September 9, 1902.

Application filed January 16, 1902. Serial No. 90,025. (Ilo model.)

To ctZZ whom, it may concern; ,7

Be it known that I, FRANK B. HOWARD, a citizen of the United States, and a resident of the borough of Manhattan, in the city and State of New York, have invented a new and useful Apparatus for Manufacturing Closed Vessels of Pulp, of which the following is a specification.

Myinvention relates to apparatus for manufacturing closed vessels of pulp,with the object in view of providing simple and effective means for varying the thickness of the wall of the pulp vessel for obtaining additional strength and security against injury and collapse during shipment.

My present invention includes features shown, described, and claimed in my Patent No. 398,397, dated February 26, 1889, the important feature which distinguishes my present invention from that shown in the patent being the arrangement of the perforations through the wall of the mold for purposes of depositing a thicker mass of pulp at those portions of the mold where it is desired to reinforce the walls of the pulp vessel.

A practical embodiment of my invention is represented in the accompanying drawings, in which Figure 1 is a view of the apparatus in vertical section as it appears when in use, the former being shown in full lines in its 'extended position; and Fig. 2 is a transverse central section of the same.

For purposes of illustrating my invention I have shown a mold cylindrical in form; but the invention would apply equally well if the mold were of other usual shape-as, for example, the shape of a barrel or cask, bulging at the center. The body portion of the mold constituting the side walls is composed of three longitudinal sections, (denoted by a, a, and a Each of these mold-sections forms a third of the body of the mold, and their edges are fitted together so that when assembled they will be substantially liquid-tight.

The sections a. a a are held in assembled adjustment by means of heads, (denoted by b and 0,) the said heads being hinged at b c to the opposite ends of the section a of the body portion of the mold. The heads are provided with shallow recesses (denoted, respectively, by b and 0 for the reception of the opposite ends of the body portion of the mold, the annular walls of said recesses being made tapered, as shown, for the purpose of crowding the body-sections of the mold together when therein for the reception of a plug g, the lower end of which plug projects through the head I) a distance equal to the intended thickness of the head of the pulp vessel and serves to form the bung or filling hole in the said vessel. The plug 9 has fitted therein a tube h, which extends downwardly within the mold and is provided within the mold with perforations 71 for the purpose of distributing air to the interior of the former. The former is denoted by t'. It is made of some suitable elastic material-such, for example, as indiarubberand is connected at its neck 11 with the tube It and is adapted to become inflated by air-pressure through the tube 71. for the purpose of forcing the pulp in all directions outwardly toward the walls of the mold. The collapsed position of the elastic former 11 is shown in dottedlines in Fig. 1. The plug 9 also carriesa small tube 76, leading from a.

valve-chamber Z in communication with the interior of the tube h near the top of the plug g, the said tube 7r extending downwardly through the plug 9 and opening into the space between the exterior of the elastic former t' and the interior face of the pulp vessel. The tube is adapted to be opened and closed to the chamber Z, and hence to the interior of the tube 72., by means of the valve m, operated by a hand-wheel n.

For the. purpose of increasing the thickness of the wall of the pulp vessel at such points as may be found desirable for strengthening the vessel-as, for example, at the margins of its opposite ends and around the middle portion of its body-J perforate the wall of the mold at more frequent intervals opposite these portions than at points opposite other portions of the vessel to be formed.

The perforations 0 through the wall of the body portion of the mold are at more frequent intervals along the central portion of the body of the mold and at or near the opposite ends of the side walls and the margins of the heads than throughout the other portions of the mold, as is clearlyshown in Fig. 1.

The entire interior of the mold is lined with a wire-gauzej.

The operation is as follows: The plug 9 and the parts carried thereby having been removed, pulp of the proper consistency is placed within the mold through the opening D The plug g and the parts carried thereby are then placed in the position shown in Fig. 1, and air-pressure from a suitable air-compressor of any well-known or approved form (not shown) is admitted through the tube It to the interior of the elastic former i. The effect of this is to crowd the pulp toward the walls of the mold. The pulp will gather in greater quantities along those portions of the Walls of the mold whereothere is the more ready outlet for the water in which the pulp is suspended, and hence more pulp will be deposited opposite those portions of the mold where the perforations are more frequent than will be deposited opposite the other portions of the perforated walls of the mold, thereby thickening the walls of the pulp vessel at those portions opposite the more frequently perforated parts of the mold. The elastic former 'i will adapt itself to the varying contours of the wall of pulp, but causingasubstantially uniform pressure throughout the entire wall of the vessel, and hencea substantially uniform density of pulp wall. When the pulp has been sufficiently compressed, the former may be caused to cleave from the interior face of the pulp wall by admitting air from the tube It through the tube 70 into the space between the former and the interior face of the pulp wall, and then the plug with the parts carried thereby, maybe withdrawn, the mold opened, and the pulp vessel removed for purposes of drying.

What I claim is- Apparatus for forming pulp vessels comprising a perforated mold and an expansible former within the mold, the perforations in the mold being arranged at more frequent intervals throughout a portion of the mold than throughout another portion of the mold for the purpose of varying the thickness of the pulp wall of the vessel to be formed, substantially as set forth.

In testimony that I claim the foregoing as my invention I have signed my name, in presence of two witnesses, this 2d day of January, 1902.

FRANKJS. HOl/VARD.

WVitnesses:

FREDK. HAYNES, (J. S. SUNDGREN. 

